[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 107 (Friday, August 5, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]

                                 prayer

  The Chaplain, the Reverend Richard C. Halverson, D.D., offered the 
following prayer:
  Let us pray:
  Beloved let us love one another: for love is of God * * *.--1 John 
4:7.
  Almighty God, holy, just, and loving in all Thy ways, the exhortation 
of the apostle John to love one another seems unrealistic or 
impractical in the atmosphere of politics. Nevertheless, the Bible 
insists it is the most powerful source in life. In the words of Paul, 
``Love suffereth long and is kind, love envieth not, love vaunteth not 
itself, love is not puffed up, love seeketh not her own, is not easily 
provoked, love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, 
endures all things. Love never fails.''
  Help us, gracious Lord, to understand love as more than emotion. We 
have been exhorted to love our enemies--those who despitefully use us. 
Emotionally, we want to crush them, but we have been commanded to love. 
Help us to see love as volitional, as a matter of the will, as a 
decision. Help us to comprehend the profound truth that, ``Love 
fulfills the law of God.'' Help us to determine to love one another, 
even in the atmosphere of politics.
  We pray in His name who is incarnate love. Amen.

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